The NHS is using an online psychometric tool to reduce the administrative burden and costs of sifting through thousands of applications for its Gateway to Leadership scheme.
Gateway to Leadership is designed to recruit and develop future leaders from outside the NHS, who have already demonstrated leadership skills in their own fields.
The new screening tool, SiftAbility, was devised by Capita Resourcing following a review of NHS recruitment processes and a desire to modernise working practices.
Claire Maguire, programme lead for Gateway to Leadership, said: “This scheme plays a key role in the NHS drive towards developing world-class leadership.
“Sifting through thousands of applications can be daunting, but SiftAbility is well suited to handling large volumes of applicants. It has an excellent psychometric approach and has already produced reliable results for us.”
Maguire anticipates saving substantial management time and resources by using the new tool, although she was unable to put a figure on the potential savings.
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One of the most useful features of the tool is its ability to quickly eliminate candidates who are unsuited to the roles as per pre-defined criteria, she said.
This year, the NHS Leadership Centre is looking to fill 46 general management places and 10 specialist HR roles, with interviews in June and July. Successful applicants will then take up permanent contracts in NHS organisations across the country.
